I had had very little jerk for the last two or three days, and began to wish that I had another horse, mule, or even a wolf.
For many days I had seen no living thing except when I looked into a small glass which I carried in my pocket, and then only saw a familiar shadow.
I spent another day without food, but had plenty of water; another night on a bed of green brush beside a good fire.

The next day was bright and sunny, quite a contrast to the gloomy days I had spent in the mountains.
For want of food I was becoming quite weak and was not able to travel as fast as usual.

During the early part of the day I saw some tracks of an unshod horse, which renewed my courage and hope of redemption; and at about two o'clock in the afternoon I saw some dark spots on the plain a long distance away, but almost in the direction I was going.

Hoping that these objects might be living creatures, I hurried on for a time, then sat down and after having watched them for a time I found that they changed positions and that satisfied me to a moral certainty that they were living creatures, but what I could not tell.

They might be horses, cattle, elk, deer, antelope or buffalo; but no matter what, I must hurry on and try to reach them before night.
Late in the evening I determined that they were horses but could not yet tell whether they belonged to whites or Indians, or were wild.